Although thinking of how easy everything became when Tyson took charge of me just reminded me that he’d said my parentsweren’t, not anymore. That even though they’d said I had to leave, Tyson didn’t want me to.
That he wouldn’tletme.
I peeked over at him as he toed off his shoes and lined them up next to mine, then pulled his sweatshirt off over his head, showing off his mouthwateringly gorgeous stomach for a minute before his t-shirt slipped back down into place and he tossed the sweatshirt onto the little hook I’d put by the door, just for that.
I smiled, ducking my head. He’d never said anything about the hook but I liked how he used it all the time. And the other stuff? About me not switching schools next year and staying here with him instead? I wondered if he’d really meant it. It hadfeltlike he meant it when he’d been staring down at me in that alley and touching me and… andkissingme.
Or I guess technically I’d kissed him, but I’d only had the guts to do it because he’d told me to.
I loved it so much when he told me what to do. It meant no overthinking and always knowing I’d make him happy. And when he’d told me he wasn’t going to let me go, I… I wanted that so bad. I wanted to believe it could be just like he’d said. And maybe it really could? Because he was right, even though I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way before. Everything I actually needed to stay on campus and finish my degree here was paid for by all those scholarships I’d gotten. And even though the idea ofreallybeing on my own, with no one to tell me what to do and no one else looking over my shoulder, was a tiny bit terrifying… it was mostly kind of wonderful.
And maybe the “kind of wonderful” part was because if Tysondidmean it, I wouldn’t really be on my own, would I? I’d be with him.
“Where are you going, baby?” he asked, grabbing my arm and spinning me back around to face him when I started heading down the hallway.
“Um, to bed?” I said, because it was super late and I’d never, ever assume he’d want me with him if he didn’t say so... and for all the dirty things hehadsaid tonight, and despite how he’d made my thing so hard that even now I wasn’t sure I could sleep at all, hehadn’tsaid so.
So maybe he needed his sleep?
We didn’t get very much sleep when he made me sleep in his bed with him.
He laughed, tugging me against him and making me think for about the billionth time since the first time he’d ever done it that there was truly nowhere else I ever wanted to be. “You’d better meanmybed, sweetness,” he said, getting all growly and sexy in that way that always made my thing start to throb. “Didn’t I promise you something?”
My mind blanked.
“Yes?” I said anyway, not really sure what he meant but super happy that he wanted me.
Tyson laughed, touching my face and holding it in that firm, possessive way he had that always made me feel sort of cherished and… andwanted. “God, you’re always so damn agreeable, baby.”
I bit my lip to hold in a smile that would probably look too big if I let it out. “Do you, um,wantme to argue?” I asked, daring to tease him a little because I was sure the answer was no but Tyson… Tyson made me feel like it was okay to sayanything.
He laughed again, which filled me with the warm, syrupy goodness that I’d only ever felt around him. “Hellno,” he said, leaning down to kiss me fast and then pulling me with him down the hall to his room, where I’d really wanted to go anyway. “I’m a selfish bastard who loves that you always let me have my way, sweetness. Love how you like doing whatever I say, that you want me to be in charge, that you’re so damn quick to promise me anything I want. I love… uh, I loveallof this. With you. It’s perfect.”
My heart started to race. That was a lot of love, and even if he wasn’t saying it wasmehe loved, sometimes… sometimes it almost felt like he might mean that, too.
Or at least, like maybe he could someday.
“I love all of it, too,” I said a little breathlessly, since I could never say what I really felt if he didn’t say it first. Then I swallowed, a moment of doubt creeping in. Because how was it possible that he actually loved all that? That he liked me just the way I was, when the way I was had never quite been good enough for anyone else? “Is that… is that wrong?” I asked, hoping so hard to hear him say it wasn’t because he was always so sure of everything and Iwasn’t, at least not outside of school stuff where it was easy to get the right answer if you just paid attention.
“Wrong?” His brow crinkled and he kicked the door of his room shut behind us, pulling my shirt off and making me shiver. “Sean, you and me together is the most right thing there is.”
“But I don’t… I don’t ever want to be in charge,” I admitted, forcing the words out because it was only fair to tell him the truth, especially since he’d said he wanted me to stay with him and if he was going to get tired of me, I should probably know now before I got my hopes up about… about things lasting as long as I wanted them to.
“You don’t, huh?” he asked, smiling down at me like I really had said something right. He pulled me closer, rocking me against him, and squeezed my bottom. “Whatdoyou want?”
Oh, God.
That.
What I wanted was definitely more of that.
And… and more than that, too. I wanted too much, I could never say all of it, especially not the dirty bits. I could never let him know how greedy—howneedy—I really was, even if he could probably kind of tell and always said it was okay. But, since he always said so himself and I knew he liked me to answer when he asked me a question, maybe I could at least admit part of it.
“I want you to take care of me.”
“Oh, baby,” Tyson said, grinning so big that his eyes looked like little half-moons. “That’s all I wanna do.” His hand slid down my chest, making the muscles in my stomach jump, and he kept right on going, covering up the rigid line of my thing right through my pants. “Wanna take care of what’s mine. And you know I love that this is all mine, right?”
I nodded, or tried to. I was pretty sure I at least jerked my chin. Butohgodohgodohgod… every time he touched me there I couldn’t think, and I didn’t even care that I couldn’t do it myself. I didn’t want to. I liked how it belonged to him just as much as he did.
